*Silicon Alley Firms Set to Pitch at Venture Capital Conference

NEW YORK-Silicon Alley investment magazine AlleyCat News and the New York City Economic Development Corp. last week announced the 29 hi-tech firms that have been chosen to attend the 2nd annual Alley to the Valley conference March 8-9 in San Francisco.

The conference's aim is to make Silicon Valley venture capitalists more aware of hi-tech investment opportunities on the East Coast by exposing them to some of Silicon Alley's "top picks."

"The venture community on the East Coast is very disparate [while] San Francisco is the center of hi-tech investing," said Janet Stites, publisher of AlleyCat News. "In Silicon Valley, you can really shop around."

While it's unrealistic to expect immediate buckets of cash to result from the trip, the networking opportunity is enough to make the conference worthwhile, said Carolyn Everett, COO of community site Bikini.com.

"Even if you don't get connected [with an investor], you've got a better than even shot that [the conference] will result in meeting the right person," she said.

The event also offers Silicon Alley entrepreneurs a chance to reconnect with one another, said Conrad Cummings, vice president and "chief wrangler" of children's entertainment company Hyperspace Cowgirls. "We all came up together," he said, noting that New York City's hi-tech business community is a fairly tight group. "Sometimes you've got to take a field trip to remember that you're in the same class."

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